Smelting furnace



July 6, 1948. D. GILES 2,444,646

smELTmG FURNACE Filed April 4, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I mwltor July 6, 1948. D. GIL- ES SMEL'I'ING FURNACE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 Filed April 4, 1944 July 6, 1948.

D. GILES SMELTING FURNACE Filed April 4, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventor I A Home 7 July 6, 19 48. D. GILES SMELTING FURNACE Filed A ril 4, 1944 V Patented July 6, 1948 SMEKPTHNG FURNACE Dee Giles, Farmington, N. Mex. Application April 4, 1944!, Serial No. 529,530 2 Claims. (oi. 2ec 3s) This invention relates to new and useful impovements in machines for separating precious or semi-precious metals or minerals from the insoluble parts of the quartz or other base material which retains the same.

An important object of the invention is to provide a smelting or separating unit of extremely low cost, simple construction and positive action in operation.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a machine of the character stated which will be considerably more eflicient in recovering precious metals from ore than most machines of the simplified types comparative with the present machine.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to the reader of the following description.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the entire apparatus.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through the mounting unit.

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken substantially on the line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view taken substantially on the line d-t of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the gravity bar.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the centrifugal recovery unit.

Figure '7 is a section on the line 7-1 of Figure 6.

Referring to the drawings wherein like numerals designate like parts, it can be seen that the apparatus is made up of a smelting unit generally referred to by numeral 5 .and a recovery unit generally referred to by numeral 6.

The smelting unit consists of a rotary drum 1, the same having -a pulley 8 driven 'by a belt 9, the latter being driven by a suitable source of power. e

The drum 1 has external rings l3 which are supported by rollers Hi mounted in cradles I 5 supported by legs I 6.

A hopper I1 is provided at the open end 18 of the drum 1, this having an agitating and feed screw 19 in the bottom thereof for thoroughly pulverizing the coal dust or the like that is supplied from the hopper I! by way of a chute 20 to the interior of the drum 1. Along with this finely pulverized coal is the finely pulverized ore, both being fed together into th drum 1 where the ocal dust is ignited by the flames from an oil burner or the like 2|. This results in the mounting of the precious metal in the fragments of ore and the small pellets of metal will gravitate to the bottom of the drum 1 lodging near a gravity roll or bar 22. This heavy rolling bar crushes the mounted material separating the metal from the slag and further, this bar serves to keep the inside of the combustion chamber clean.

Over the other end of the drum l is disposed and overlaps for substantially one-third of its length a sleeve 23, the outer end of this sleeve having a tapered portion 24 meeting and being connected to a fan housing 25 in which a suction fan 26 is located, this fan being on a shaft 21 driven by a pulley 2B. A support 29 is provided for the fan and sleeve 23 at its outer end, and a suitable support 30 is provided for the inner end of the sleeve, it being observed that the sleeve is radially spaced from the corresponding end of the drum to permit the entrance of air into the sleeve, the air being drawn inwardly to the recovery unit generally referred to by numeral 6 (see Figure 6).

The recovery unit 6 consists of a vertically disposed stack divided into sections 35, 36 and provided with a tapered head 31 connected to a flue 38.

The conduit 34 extends into the lower section 35 of the stack in connection to the lower portion of a well which is radially spaced inwardly from the section 35 of the stack'and denoted by numeral 40.

A plurality of inclined deflectors 4H are'located in the lower portion of the well M and through these deflectors the products of combustion including the remaining fragments of metal must pass and in so doing are whirled so that they eifect a turbulent'motion, sweeping the side wall of the stack section 31. The metal fragments due to their specific gravity will stop against the inside of the stack and then gravitate down, falling between the stack and the well 40 and being collected by a. basin 43. This concentrate can pass through a suitable discharge opening 44.

While the foregoing specification sets forth the invention in specific terms, it is to be understood that numerous change in the shape, size and materials may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed hereinafter.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A smelting unit for ore comprising a rotary drum, a hopper for containing combustible material and finely crushed ore, an outlet from the hopper to the interior of the drum and a burner protruding into the drum, and a freely rotatable roll gravitating in the drum.

2. A smelting unit for metal bearing ore comprising a rotary drum, a hopper for containing combustible material and finely crushed ore, an outlet from the hopper to the interior of the drum at one end of the drum, a burner protruding into the drum, a concentrate outlet at the other end of the drum, a sleeve surrounding said other end of the drum and spaced radially therefrom, a sump in the bottom of the sleeve for receiving concentrates passing into the sleeve from said concentrate outlet, 2. fan casing on the sleeve into which one end of the sleeve opens, said casing having a discharge conduit leading therefrom,

and a suction fan in said casing for drawing the residue of ore and uncollected fragments of metal out of said sleeve and discharging the same out of said conduit.

DEE GILES.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 790,825 Gafke May 23, 1905 1,171,583 Benson Feb. 15, 1916 1,214,809 Malm Feb. 6, 1917 1,404,381 Fasting Jan. 24, 1922 1,446,857 Peiter- Feb. 27, 1923 1,627,585 Vogel-Jorgensen May 10, 1927 1,706,748 Rigby Mar. 26, 1929 1,724,041 Plaisted Aug. 13, 1929 2,053,652 Blanchard Sept. 8, 1936 2,137,185 Sell Nov. 15, 1938 2,177,654 Jaeger Oct. 31, 1939 

